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MassGIS-HERE Project Description and Licensing Requirements

This document describes the HERE (the company that now includes data products that were formerly branded as "Navteq")”geocoding resources and the roles of the state agencies involved in obtaining and improving those resources for use by Commonwealth government entities. It also describes conditions for use of the HERE data files.

Description

The HERE geocoding files are digital map files that provide an accurate representation of the highway and street network with additional attribution of street names and address ranges to support geocoding, which is the computerized process of finding locations based on address. These map files are compatible with the Commonwealth’s 1:5000 scale color orthophotography, meaning that street centerlines are almost always mapped to within 5 meters (~16 feet) or better of the location of the visible street centerline in the orthophotography. Since HERE has classified all of Massachusetts as an urban area, their highest standards of data acquisition are in effect for continuing to improve the street centerlines. This means that updates by HERE will be derived from GPS-based field data collection using mobile field units.

The Massachusetts Highway Department has purchased an enterprise license for the HERE geocoding files for Massachusetts. The license allows these files to be used by any Massachusetts government agency or political subdivision, including commissions, boards, regional agencies, authorities, and cities and towns; however the HERE files remain the property of HERE and may not be distributed to outside entities. The Massachusetts State 911 Department, the state agency with oversight of the E911 program, will be paying the annual maintenance cost of the HERE files and funding work at MassGIS to substantially improve the quality of the street, street name, and address information in the HERE files.

Requirements

Agencies must acknowledge and accept certain conditions to obtain the data, including the requirement to post the source of the geocoding results when displayed on a web site. These requirements are discussed in more detail below.

Obtaining the HERE Data

MassGIS is responsible for distributing the HERE data to all eligible organizations. Before an eligible organization can receive the data, two people at the organization must be identified. First, the organization must identify a person who will act as the Technical Contact. This person will be the primary contact at that organization for all aspects of the HERE data release, including its distribution to other users in their organization; they will be the ones to receive any future updates. Second, the agency must identify a person to act as a License Signatory. This person should have direct or indirect supervisory authority over agency employees who are using the HERE files; this includes temporary help or consultants being paid by the agency to deliver a service or product that will be used by that agency in its authorized operations. Temporary help or consultants can only use the HERE files on equipment owned or leased by the agency and in an office location owned or leased by that agency. If someone who wants to use the HERE files does not at least indirectly report to the License Signatory, then an additional or different License Signatory must be identified.

Displaying Geocoding Results on a Website

The primary purpose for which most agencies will use the HERE files will be geocoding . Any geocoding results published to a website must include the following notice in conspicuous type immediately below all results provided on a Web Site: “Use of Geocoding Data subject to License.” The word “License” shall be underlined and highlighted in a different color so that when clicked upon it serves as a link to an agreement containing the terms that the end-user accepts by clicking on a button labeled “I agree”. The terms that must be accepted are those in Sections 1a – 1h of the Server License Agreement portion of the AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE MASSACHUSETTS HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT AND AMERICAN DIGITAL CARTOGRAPHY, INC. that accompanied the signature page signed by each agency’s License Signatory (see above).